CN Lester is a writer, musician, academic, and leading LGBTI activist. Co-founder of the UK’s first national queer youth organisation, they curate the trans art event Transpose for Barbican, and work internationally as a trans and feminist educator and speaker. Their work has featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, SBS, The Guardian, ABC, The Independent, Newsnight, and at Sydney Opera House.

A singer-songwriter and a classical performer, composer and researcher, CN specialises in early and modern music, particularly by women composers. Gigs/engagements include work at The Barbican, Southbank Centre, Snape Maltings, The Royal Exchange, Fluid Festival, Queer Prides throughout Europe, and art galleries/bars/recital halls/book and coffee shops/universities throughout the UK. They have released three independent, crowd-funded albums: “Ashes” (2012), “Aether” (2014) and “Come Home” (2017) – all available via iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.

“Trans Like Me” (Virago/Seal) is their first book, named as one of the three essential works on trans issues by The New York Times. With glowing reviews from The Times Literary Supplement and Publishers Weekly, “Trans Like Me” is a collection of essays on gender, society, history, and building better futures. Available worldwide in all good bookshops, online, in ebook and audio.

A great blog, thank you. As a transman who as elected not to take hormones (or have surgery), but who is working through major vocal dysphoria, your blog has been a pleasure and a help to read. Thanks.

Hi CN,
I listened to you at the Cheltenham Literary Festival (I was the transwoman who asked the question about hormones). You sounded as though you are a scholar who is fully familiar with their subject. But even more important perhaps, you sounded like a wonderful, humane person.
I shall follow your blog, and hope to get to know you better.
Just in case you’re interested, I also have a wordpress blog, Autumn Leaves, where I post original fiction.
All the best
Penny

I picked up Trans Like Me at the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference in August, and I keep reading and re-reading it. It’s up there with Whipping Girl as something that keeps helping me make sense of my (trans) nature. I especially appreciate reading an enby’s perspective on things. I’m non-binary myself and find myself gravitating to non-binary people when I have a choice, and I find that even in trans circles, non-binary perspectives get ignored.

Yes, both have some sections that are hard reading — the erasure and distortion of trans people, is hard to think about, and I know I’m very, very privileged in that I don’t have to deal with that stuff in my daily life. I’m not a fighter (I’ll happily join the ladies’ auxiliary, though 🙂 ), so I’m glad that there are people out there — like you, like Julia Serano, like Zinnia Jones — who are fighting.

Thank you for writing it.

— Allison

P.S.: do you use “CN” as your first name? Like, pronounced “see-en”? “Inquiring minds would like to know….”